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Table 2 Clinical features of patients randomized to the three different detoxification groups during the withdrawal program

From: Treatment of withdrawal headache in patients with medication overuse headache: a pilot study

 

Withdrawal therapy groups

A:Methylprednisolone

B:Paracetamol

C:Placebo

p value

Headache Intensity (1–3 scale)

 1st day

mean ± SD

1.8 ± 0.7

1.5 ± 0.9

2.0 ± 0.7

 

 2nd day

mean ± SD

1.8 ± 0.5

1.9 ± 0.8

2.3 ± 0.5

< 0.001 a

 3rd day

mean ± SD

1.3 ± 0.7

1.5 ± 0.8

1.9 ± 0.9

0.103b

 4th day

mean ± SD

1.4 ± 0.6

1.4 ± 0.8

1.2 ± 0.7

0.192c

 5th day

mean ± SD

1.2 ± 0.8

1.1 ± 0.9

1.1 ± 0.6

 

Headache on 5th day (yes/no)

N (%) / N (%)

15 (79.0) /4 (21.0)

13 (68.4) / 6 (31.6)

14 (87.5) / 2 (12.5)

0.396

Associated withdrawal Symptoms

 1st day

N (%)

15 (79.0)

13 (68.4)

15 (79.0)

0.685

 2nd day

N (%)

18 (94.7)

14 (73.7)

15 (79.0)

0.207

 3rd day

N (%)

13 (68.4)

15 (79.0)

10 (62.5)

0.554

 4th day

N (%)

15 (79.0)

14 (73.8)

8 (50.0)

0.154

 5th day

N (%)

12 (63.2)

10 (52.6)

6 (37.5)

0.317

Number of Medication Intake

med; IQR

3; 2–6

2; 0–3

4; 1–6

0.139

Withdrawal headache duration (days)

med; IQR

7; 5–7

6; 5–8

7; 6.5–8

0.5797

  1. Legend: IQR interquartile range; med: median; N sample size; SD standard deviation
  2. afrom testing headache intensity for all patients across days
  3. bfrom testing headache intensity among treatments
  4. cfrom testing the interaction between treatments and days of headache intensity
  5. Statistically significant p-values are denoted in bold